


Paying it Forward

by CountlessUntruths (KaliCephirot)



Category: Soul (2020)
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28515117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaliCephirot/pseuds/CountlessUntruths
Summary: Joe reconnects with an old friend.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 47





	Paying it Forward

Joe gets to the little hipster cafe a little bit earlier than he thought he'd be, throwing Maggie a quick text to tell her he's there. He's still a little surprised by her invitation: by his own recolling it's been at least eight years since they last met, since she and Dionne got married. 

Still, not all her fault: Maggie had been originally Lisa's friend, and he'd never been one to quite know how to navigate who-got-who in friendship custodies after breaking up with someone. 

Maggie's text is short and to the point.

_Look up._

Joe does, grinning when he finds her not much changed: pixie haircut, brown skin, large brown eyes behind her glasses, five feet nothin' in her big colorful sweaters. He'd been blown away, the first time he had heard her sing, how that set of pipes fit inside such a small envelope. 

"Mags, look at you!"

"At me? Look at you! You look younger!" She laughs as they hug. "What's the secret?"

"Well, I don't drink coffee anymore," and he kind of had an extremely close to death experience, but the only person he talks about that is with Moonwind, every Wednesday while they do yoga and tea. 

"Welp, if that's that, count me out: if I get a cut, I basically bleed a double expresso" she shakes her head. "Come, come, sit. I'm sure they've got nice tea or somethin' you can have."

"Mom, can I have another milkshake?"

As Maggie tells her daughter how no, she can't have another milkshake, Joe takes a look at the little girl, all dark eyes and dark hair in cornrows, that swept into pigtails. The girl sighs, rolling her eyes, before going back to her drawing, the pout on her mouth screaming 'sulking' and, apparently, her mom knows as well because she just sighs, giving him the same rolling eyes her daughter just did, before sitting down at the booth.

"Come on, Joe, sit, tell me, how's it been?" she makes a gesture for him to sit down, the 

"Um... well..."

The thing about Maggie that he had half forgotten is how easy to talk to her. Once upon a time they've been decent griends thanks to that, and because they talked the same language of music. These days Joe tries to talk about more than just music, but when he asks after her wife she half winces, looking towards her kid, who doesn't seem to have noticed.

"Actually, Joe, that's what I wanted to talk with you about. Lisa said you're still teaching?"

"Yeah, for almost ten years now," he says with a smile. "Also playing here and there, don't get me wrong, but... I like it."

"I'm so glad to hear that. I was actually wondering--"

Before she can finish her question, her cellphone rings and when she looks down at her screen, something complicated goes through Maggie's face before she looks at him.

"Joe, I really need to take this, give me five minutes?" she nods towards her kid. "Get a coffee. Or another tea. Or a milkshake! They're great and vegan-- no, not you, missy."

Joe blinks, before he nods. "Oh, yeah, sure, don't worry."

Maggie gives him a grateful smile before she moves away, and Joe hears a little about 'Di, you PROMISED--' before she walks out of the diner. 

"She's fighting with mommy again," the little girl says, eyes still focused on her drawing of a... Joe wants to say elephant, but unless asked, he's not making a guess out loud. "They've been doing that a LOT, but they don't want me to hear about it."

"Oh, well... sometimes that happens. Parents fighting each other," he offers softly, trying to remember the not-quite-workshops he's had to take the last couple years since he's been a teacher. 

The little girl shrugs, adding orange to her... horse?

"Hey, I don't think we got introduced," he says instead. "I'm Joe. Joe Gardner. And you?"

"Well," the girl says, scrunching her nose. "Technically it's Theresa, which I _really_ really don't like, so it's Tessa, unless I did something to get mommy mad, and then it's 'MARIA THERESA LOPEZ-STEVENS VEN AQUÍ AHORITA MISMO, and _then_ if mama isn't nearby I have to bring out the big eyes so mommy won't just go KABLOOIE on me." 

"Kablooie on you, huh?" Joe smiles, charmed. "And how often does that happen?"

"Not so much now. When I was younger it happened like, at least nine hundred million times a day." The little girl says, nodding hard, either to make him realize just how serious she is or to make her hair loopies clic against each other. "But I'm older now and I know better."

"Ah, of course. A woman of the world."

A raised eyebrow.

"I'm seven."

He tries hard to avoid looking as amused as he feels. Kids hate that, he knows. "My bad, then, Tessa."

Tessa looks at him once before she nods, going back to the picture of her...

"So, what are you making?"

"This is my cat, Jazz," she says. turning the picture towards him and if he leans his head a little and squints-- "He's really really REALLY fat, and he purrs REALLY loud and his favorite food is pizza. Do _you_ like pizza?"

"Absolutely," he passes some sort of exam then, because the girl grins at him - she's missing one tooth, her smile gaping, and she pushes both her notebook and her crayons towards him. Knowing better than to refuse such an invitation, Joe starts adding some notes to the drawing, trying to imagine what the purring of a cat would sound on a four scale.

Tessa gasps. "That's music! Mama and mommy are teaching me!" and then she starts humming in a better key than most of his students manage.

"Hey, that's so good!" His singing voice is terrible, especially against a professional singer and a Broadway actress, but he hums a little, harmonizing with her. 

When they're done, Tessa gives him another grin."

"Okay. I like you. You need a sticker," she looks through her backpack before she brings out a half empty sheet of stickers of cats, hearts and stars before very carefully peeling off one cat and, after careful deliberation, putting it on his hat.

"Oh my, did Mr. Gardner get sticked already?"

Joe looks up, and there's something still tense on Maggie's face, but she's giving her kid an honest smile. 

"Yep, I like him, he can stay." Tessa says. "Mommy, can I go and help Ro in the kitchen?"

"I don't know..."

"Sure she can," an Asian man says, smiling at Maggie and then at the girl, picking her up and setting her against his hip. "Don't worry, Maggie-mag!. We're making cookies. Twenty-two can help with that."

Joe forgets how to breath.

"But no feeding my kid her weight in sugar or I'm making you babysit! Ro, I mean it!" Maggie shakes her head. "I love working here, and they all love Tessa, but I swear to god it's only given her more people to spoiler her rotten."

"It's... it's fine," Joe tries to laugh a little. "But... twenty-two?"

"Oh, that. It's something of an in joke," Maggie says, rolling her eyes. "She was born February 22nd at exactly 10:22 pm. And well, you know Dionne is an actress and you know actors and their superstitions... Joe?"

Joe blinks, shaking his head and laughing a little, unable to explain why his eyes are teary all of the sudden. So he sniffs, his heart full.

"Hey, you know we musicians have our own superstitions, girl!" He smiles at her. "Okay, so, tell me. What's up?"

What's up is a probable divorce, Maggie and her wife separated already, Maggie living at the Bronx with her sister while Dionne stays in Manhattan, and their little girl suffering from separation anxiety.

"She's always been a little anxious, but since we moved out she's been having nightmares, and wondering if it's her fault. Her therapist was the one to suggest music lessons since Tessa loves music so much, and I'm not saying you have to, I just wanted to know if you _know_ a reliable, not that expensive teacher?"

Joe leans towards the side a little, where he can peek into the kitchen. Tessa is standing on a stool, making balls out of dough. 

"I'm free on Tuesdays," he offers Maggie with a smile. "Don't worry, Mags. I have a feeling we'll have your little girl jazzing in no time."


End file.
